Bates
Mill and Kennedy Park
About the Bates Mill Complex and Kennedy
Park
Bates Mill
The Bates Mill is a symbol of Lewiston's industrial history.
Huge, five- and six-storied, brick mills with Italianate towers
and mansard roofs line the length of the canal the Bates Mill
sits on. The mill immediately facing you as you approach Canal
Street is the huge, historic, Bates Mill. Although built
by the Boston Consortium, the earliest of the mills constructed
in Lewiston was named for Benjamin Bates, as he was the largest
stockholder. During the Civil War, the mill manufactured tenting
and cotton goods. Within 10 years it had become one of the largest
textile producers in New England, manufacturing a variety of
products through the years, including parachutes and camouflage
during World War II. The first bedspread was woven in 1850. Since
then, Bates has become one of the great producers of woven bedspreads in the world.
Today the Bates Mill is home to a number of business and restaurants
and is undergoing a large amount of redevelopment. The
Maine Social Forum is taking place in the mostly empty fourth
floor of the Bates Mill where we will have plenty of space for
info tabling, workshops, speakers, panels, and other cultural
events. The Mill is handicapped accessible, although it
will likely be pretty hot on the fourth floor where there is no air conditioning. Be prepared for hot weather!
Kennedy Park
Land for this park was given to the City by the Franklin Company
and is named after John F. Kennedy. The park was designed
by Albert Kelsey of the Franklin Company who is often called
the "Builder of Lewiston." He designed many of the mills,
churches, and residential streets of Lewiston.
Today the park is home to a new skateboard park, a couple of
basketball courts, a swimming pool, a playground, open fields
where you will often see kids playing soccer, and a growing farmer?s
market. Kennedy Park is also undergoing redevelopment
where the city is pouring money in to revitalize the park and
reinstall a historic fountain that was once the centerpiece of the park.
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